[fluent]

Hello everyone!

First post here, and I want to start by saying I am a newcomer to Piranha Bytes games. I've played Risen 1 for I'd say about 15 hours or so before becoming distracted, and I'm currently playing Risen 2 and have spent 57 hours with it and am at the last area. I am really enjoying Risen 2 and I am going to go back to the Gothic series and play it for the first time when I'm done with Risen 2, as I heard those are great games as well.

I've been playing RPGs for over 20 years and I have a lot of experience with these types of games. I feel the first 2 Risen games are quite excellent games, but I'll be throwing out some suggestions for Risen 2 specifically since I spent more time with that than the original Risen.

So, without further ado, the ideas.

Idea #1 - Less generic treasure.

Let me explain. Digging up buried treasure and finding treasure chests are great. However, after you've found so many of them, they quickly start to become all the same. I would suggest lowering the amount of chests but making the contents more worthwhile and unique.

I expected higher level locked chests to possess rare and unique items. Yes, you might find some rare gems, but even those chests all start to blend together after awhile and it takes away some of the fun of finding them.

The buried treasures are a great idea, but there needs to be more unique loot to fill them. Even looting temples got boring a bit because it's always the same. I kept expecting some great, unique, rare item to appear, but it never happened. This brings me to my next idea.

Idea #2 - More unique items.

There needs to be a larger variety of items to find, especially rings, amulets, earrings and potions. I don't get excited anymore when I see an amulet on a desk or in a cave or something, I know it's just going to be another one of the same ones I've been finding all game. Same with rings, earrings and potions.

To further this idea, there needs to be more variety in potions as well. More things with unique effects. They could overall also be more rare in the game. I've found tons of potions and haven't really had to use alchemy at all except to craft a few permanent effect potions.

Bottom line here is, there needs to be more variety in the items all the way around. If you guys really work on this, the game will be filled with even more discover than it already is. Which leads me to my next idea.

Idea #3 - More varied skills and abilities.

There just needs to be more stats and abilities in the game. It's very streamlined now, which is not bad, but again, this plays directly into the fact that potions/amulets/rings/etc. become boring because they only affect these core stats. There needs to be more variety. Finding a ring that grants you some wild bonus, or allows you to unlock new dialog by wearing it, or has some other quest-related thing attached to it; things like that. Not just +5 Bladeproof or whatever. Those are fine, but there needs to be about 10 times as much with more variety.

Less quantity, more quality and uniqueness.

I hope I'm being somewhat clear here. The game just needs more variety. More clutter. More unique items. More abilities and skills. More things to discover. But not necessarily "more of the same".

Idea #4 - More danger in the game world.

There should be ambushes that surprise the player, other than just the occasional trap. Wander off the path and get ambushed by a few panthers or something. Also, I feel there should be more higher level mobs in more areas at the start, creating more danger.

For example, Tacarigua. When you first get there,

Spoiler:(zum lesen bitte Text markieren)

there is a jaguar who poses a great threat to you at that point in the game. Then a little later, there is a giant spider in a cave.

However, I would have liked to seen more danger.

Example. "Don't go in the western woods, a giant, evil treebeard lurks those woods and eats those who wander about". Or, the northeastern beach has some rare giant sand snakes that can only be killed when you have an elixir from the local doctor. Things like that.

The point I'm trying to make is that there should be more danger. The game should really kick my ass at times and keep me away from certain encounters until I'm more prepared. I'm not saying it's devoid of this, but there could be more. More lore, more rare/unique monsters and more dangerous areas would add a larger sense of danger to the game.

Those are my main 4 points I wanted to make here.

I feel other things in the game are done well. The exploration is wonderful. The world is well crafted. The design of the open-world is done well. The island idea compartmentalizes the exploration and makes it more efficient. The dialog is excellent and well-written. The quests are interesting and have multiple ways to accomplish them. I like the choices you have to make at times. The companions are great and they balance combat quite well (it wouldn't be a bad idea to be able to customize their gear, though). The combat is not perfect but it's fun. Guns are implemented well and are fun to use. Crafting is great but could definitely be expanded even further. Voodoo is amazing and I really enjoy using it.

There are a lot of good things going for this game and also some areas to improve upon. I can't wait to play the rest of the Piranha Bytes games and I look forward to all the work you guys plan on doing in the future. I really do like Risen 2 quite a bit.

Best of luck and thanks for reading. - Fluent

P.S. Please let me know if you agree/disagree with these ideas and what you think can be improved in future games. Thanks!

[Forward]

seems like you like challenges, Gothic 1 and 2 is for you buddy
and after you've finished them come here and tell us what you think

[fluent]

seems like you like challenges, Gothic 1 and 2 is for you buddy
and after you've finished them come here and tell us what you think

Will do!

I planned on playing a Gothic game next, but I was actually leaning towards Gothic 3 because I heard it is a very large open-world. That said, it would probably be better to play the first Gothic first and go on from there. I'll have to see.

Just curious, but does Gothic 3 not have the same challenge level as the first 2 Gothics?

[The Ore Baron]

Hello everyone!

Welcome. Our community is small but nice. I hope you'll fit right in.
You should also not feel bad for the lack of replies in your thread - it's just that we've already discussed the shortcomings of Risen and Risen 2 so many times over and over again, I just don't think people are too excited to repeat themselves. Read up on some of our older threads, they should provide some interesting insights.

Idea #1 - Less generic treasure.

I don't think there was a problem with treasure chests. They were mostly buried by pirates who were hoping to come and get it some time in the future. Would they really be hiding unique weapons? I doubt it. Treasure chests having a few hundred gold coins and some silver cutlery suits the context pretty well. The same goes for ancient temples - I found it only natural that the only treasures were jade figurines and jewelry. Compare this to the first Risen game, where in the first risen temple you find a few stone chests, containing imperial gold coins and a bottle of wine. That's just silly. Risen 2 handled chests in a much better and thought-out way, from what I remember. Personally, I never found it bothersome to dig treasure up - I knew exactly was I was going to find and that was gold or things to trade for gold.

Idea #2 - More unique items.

I can agree with that. Most of the amulets you can find in the game you can also craft, and there were only four unique sword + one or two unique guns. I would have appreciated more variety. Alchemy was pretty much useless in Risen 2, apart from a few instances of using thievery or silver tongue potions to pass some more difficult skill checks. I never used potions that would increase my fighting ability or so - the game was easy as is.

Idea #3 - More varied skills and abilities.

I can agree with that as well, though I would not consider it a vital point of change. More variety is always good, but I found the skill system to be pretty satisfying.

Idea #4 - More danger in the game world.

Again, not too vital. Putting really strong enemies in certain places would hinder the exploration aspect of the game. Monsters like that should be a challenge that should require smart use of potions and maybe even some sort of tactics or some help from an NPC character, but they should be possible to defeat quite early on. You haven't played Gothic 2 yet, but there is a black troll at a certain spot. It is one of the strongest enemies in the game, but a low-level character is able to defeat it, albeit with much work. I liked that, the cave spider in Tacarigua was a little bit like that - very strong, yet possible to defeat if you play your cards right.

The exploration is wonderful. The world is well crafted. The design of the open-world is done well. The island idea compartmentalizes the exploration and makes it more efficient. The dialog is excellent and well-written. The quests are interesting and have multiple ways to accomplish them. I like the choices you have to make at times. The companions are great and they balance combat quite well (it wouldn't be a bad idea to be able to customize their gear, though). The combat is not perfect but it's fun. Guns are implemented well and are fun to use. Crafting is great but could definitely be expanded even further. Voodoo is amazing and I really enjoy using it.

I can only agree with compartmentalized world making exploration efficient and less tedious, which I like, albeit many of us here really despise the so-called 'tunnel' design of Risen 2 islands. And yes, the world is quite nice to look at, even though there are very few truly unique locations, as most of the world is just green jungle and shallow rivers. Dialogs are... well, lacking. This connects to the general lack of lore in the game, and the dialogues are rarely informative, although some jokes are pretty good and made me laugh. Choices are absolutely meaningless in Risen 2. Combat is a click-fest and party members are just there to make an easy game even easier. Voodoo Steelbeard makes sense, as magic-using character would be quite weak in the battle, but a melee or ranged combat-oriented character has nothing to gain from party members, apart from some unique dialogue lines (even then, I think it's only in Patty's case). Crafting is mostly useless, since you can find everything you can craft easily anyway, and it's not like amulets or rings are breakable. Voodoo is only interesting when you use it during quests - combat-wise it's pretty simple, dedicating an entire skill tree to basically three spells is just silly, especially when making enemies weaker or making them fight by your side is way too tedious than just kicking their asses. I consider Risen 2 a solid game, but the combat system is probably the worst in all PB games. Risen 3 seems to improve on this only marginally.

Just curious, but does Gothic 3 not have the same challenge level as the first 2 Gothics?

The first Gothic game is very easy, you can get your strength up to a hundred even before you join any camp, and from then on out it's just a matter of finding better weapons. Same goes for archer builds. The only way to play Gothic with some difficulty is a pure-mage type of character, but I would not recommend that for your first play-through. Second Gothic game is also pretty easy, but it also has an add-on Night of the Raven, which balances things out pretty well and provides some good challenge. I think difficulty-wise, Night of the Raven is the best-balanced PB game to date. Gothic 3 is generally more tedious than difficult, although the latest community patch comes with a modified difficulty balance, which provides for some balls-to-wall hard experiences, which you should enjoy if you liked Dark Souls games. Gothic series is a mixed bag when it comes to difficulty, but to answer your question in a straightforward manner - no, Gothic 3 does not provide the same level of challenge - it's easier without the alternative balancing and it's a lot harder with it. The choice is yours. I'd say go with AB, but don't chose the hardest difficulty setting. Maybe even play it on easy.

[fluent]

Welcome. Our community is small but nice. I hope you'll fit right in.
You should also not feel bad for the lack of replies in your thread - it's just that we've already discussed the shortcomings of Risen and Risen 2 so many times over and over again, I just don't think people are too excited to repeat themselves. Read up on some of our older threads, they should provide some interesting insights.

Thanks for the welcome! I read a few things and saw some great suggestions as well.

I don't think there was a problem with treasure chests. They were mostly buried by pirates who were hoping to come and get it some time in the future. Would they really be hiding unique weapons? I doubt it. Treasure chests having a few hundred gold coins and some silver cutlery suits the context pretty well. The same goes for ancient temples - I found it only natural that the only treasures were jade figurines and jewelry. Compare this to the first Risen game, where in the first risen temple you find a few stone chests, containing imperial gold coins and a bottle of wine. That's just silly. Risen 2 handled chests in a much better and thought-out way, from what I remember. Personally, I never found it bothersome to dig treasure up - I knew exactly was I was going to find and that was gold or things to trade for gold.

I think that sort of summarizes my problem with the treasure hunting in Risen 2 - You always knew exactly what you were going to find.

I kept expecting to find some ancient ritual staff in a temple, or some strange ring that grants me magical powers. All I found was jade and statues. Which are fine! Don't get me wrong. But I think some more care could have been taken to add a wider variety of items rather than all similar items.

As for buried treasures and treasure chests, again, more unique items would suit these better. I'd like to find some strange items that I'm not sure what to do with. A unique weapon or two (I disagree that pirates wouldn't bury unique weapons, if you use your imagination you can see them doing that), and other things rather than the same old stuff.

I can agree with that. Most of the amulets you can find in the game you can also craft, and there were only four unique sword + one or two unique guns. I would have appreciated more variety. Alchemy was pretty much useless in Risen 2, apart from a few instances of using thievery or silver tongue potions to pass some more difficult skill checks. I never used potions that would increase my fighting ability or so - the game was easy as is.

Yep, exactly. The amulets and rings were all the same stuff and alchemy was useless other than making permanent effect potions.

I'm a believer that alchemy in general should be much more powerful and potions in the game world should be more rare. It seems every RPG I play I get loaded up with potions and don't really have a need or necessity to brew them myself. I'd like to see that change.

I can agree with that as well, though I would not consider it a vital point of change. More variety is always good, but I found the skill system to be pretty satisfying.

The skill system wasn't bad, I'd just like to see even more stats, because then the rings, amulets, potions, etc., would have more possibilities. I'm not exactly sure how they could add more stats, but maybe something like imposing a carry weight limit, and certain rings would raise your strength stat to allow you to carry more (just a quick idea). Or a climbing stat that allows you to reach trickier places (which would tie into the world design). I dunno, but more variety would be nice which would carry over into the item variety department as well.

Again, not too vital. Putting really strong enemies in certain places would hinder the exploration aspect of the game. Monsters like that should be a challenge that should require smart use of potions and maybe even some sort of tactics or some help from an NPC character, but they should be possible to defeat quite early on. You haven't played Gothic 2 yet, but there is a black troll at a certain spot. It is one of the strongest enemies in the game, but a low-level character is able to defeat it, albeit with much work. I liked that, the cave spider in Tacarigua was a little bit like that - very strong, yet possible to defeat if you play your cards right.

True, I see what you're saying and I agree. I do think some enemies should not be able to be defeated at a low level, though, and without proper armor and equipment. Fighting some sort of crazy monster should result in death unless you have the proper talents and gear sorted out. We should be able to mark these difficult spots on our map to come back later to deal with them.

The cave spider in Tacarigua is a good example of what I'm talking about. I'd like to see more of that in remote parts of the map. And as I said, I'd like to see some non-quest related tie-ins to make those encounters more manageable (such as a special skill to kill armored crabs - kicking, or learning the weak point of some armored sea beast by talking to the local town guard or something). More interactivity and connected-ness.

I can only agree with compartmentalized world making exploration efficient and less tedious, which I like, albeit many of us here really despise the so-called 'tunnel' design of Risen 2 islands. And yes, the world is quite nice to look at, even though there are very few truly unique locations, as most of the world is just green jungle and shallow rivers. Dialogs are... well, lacking. This connects to the general lack of lore in the game, and the dialogues are rarely informative, although some jokes are pretty good and made me laugh. Choices are absolutely meaningless in Risen 2. Combat is a click-fest and party members are just there to make an easy game even easier. Voodoo Steelbeard makes sense, as magic-using character would be quite weak in the battle, but a melee or ranged combat-oriented character has nothing to gain from party members, apart from some unique dialogue lines (even then, I think it's only in Patty's case). Crafting is mostly useless, since you can find everything you can craft easily anyway, and it's not like amulets or rings are breakable. Voodoo is only interesting when you use it during quests - combat-wise it's pretty simple, dedicating an entire skill tree to basically three spells is just silly, especially when making enemies weaker or making them fight by your side is way too tedious than just kicking their asses. I consider Risen 2 a solid game, but the combat system is probably the worst in all PB games. Risen 3 seems to improve on this only marginally.

I had fun with the combat system, even if it is a click-fest. I found it satisfying to take out tougher enemies and I liked the addition of guns which I also feel were balanced well (I only used Pistols, though). Voodoo in battle was good for me and yeah, a wee bit tedious to have 2 enemies fight amongst themselves, but it helped a lot in the encounters with multiple enemies. I didn't think dialogs were lacking, but more lore definitely could have been added. The dialog seems to favor the mundane rather than the lore of the world, which could be improved in future games.

The first Gothic game is very easy, you can get your strength up to a hundred even before you join any camp, and from then on out it's just a matter of finding better weapons. Same goes for archer builds. The only way to play Gothic with some difficulty is a pure-mage type of character, but I would not recommend that for your first play-through. Second Gothic game is also pretty easy, but it also has an add-on Night of the Raven, which balances things out pretty well and provides some good challenge. I think difficulty-wise, Night of the Raven is the best-balanced PB game to date. Gothic 3 is generally more tedious than difficult, although the latest community patch comes with a modified difficulty balance, which provides for some balls-to-wall hard experiences, which you should enjoy if you liked Dark Souls games. Gothic series is a mixed bag when it comes to difficulty, but to answer your question in a straightforward manner - no, Gothic 3 does not provide the same level of challenge - it's easier without the alternative balancing and it's a lot harder with it. The choice is yours. I'd say go with AB, but don't chose the hardest difficulty setting. Maybe even play it on easy.

Thanks for the tip, I'll keep that in mind!

[Misanthrope]

[Bild: 50179277.jpg]

[rotator]

My 2 cents: neither Gothics are easy if you play them for the first time. G2 NotR and G3 (on hard with AB) can be brutal even on replay, if you rush the game or mess up the character development. To enjoy G2 you need to play G1 at least once, however G3 somewhat disconnects from the predecessors and it's not really story oriented, but rather a huuuge sandbox RPG.

[fluent]

My 2 cents: neither Gothics are easy if you play them for the first time. G2 NotR and G3 (on hard with AB) can be brutal even on replay, if you rush the game or mess up the character development. To enjoy G2 you need to play G1 at least once, however G3 somewhat disconnects from the predecessors and it's not really story oriented, but rather a huuuge sandbox RPG.

Thanks for sharing your 2 cents!

I am most interested in G3 right now because of a few reasons:

1 - It came out the same time as Oblivion, which is remarkable to me because up until not that long ago, I had never even heard of Gothic 3.

2 - It's a huge open-world, which I really like.

3 - The graphics look quite beautiful (I'm not a complete graphics whore, in fact I think Gothic 1 still looks fine, but I'm interested to see Gothic 3's vistas and landscapes)

4 - It's a sandbox RPG, which I also enjoy.

So, I think I'm going to skip around and play these Gothic games in different order. I'll save G2 for last since people say that's the best one, and I'll also try and find time to play Risen 1 properly and Gothic 1 as well. Hopefully I can stay motivated to play through all these games and see what I missed all these years.

Wish me luck!

[The Ore Baron]

Playing Gothic 3 before 1 or 2 is fine.

Playing Gothic 2 before 1 is not.

Seriously, do yourself a favour and play the first two games in order. This will make the whole experience a whole more enjoyable.

[Maladiq]

Playing Gothic 1 before 2 is not.

LOL? I hope typo. The Gothic games should all be played in order.

Also, Gothic 1 is superior to 2 in what concerns the story and overall feeling.

[warstrike]

If you're going to play all Gothic games ,i strongly suggest you play them in the right order. The story is pretty nice and characters are memorable.

[The Ore Baron]

LOL? I hope typo. The Gothic games should all be played in order.

Yes, it's a typo Thanks, Maladiq.
Luckily, my last two sentences were clear enough,

If you're going to play all Gothic games ,i strongly suggest you play them in the right order. The story is pretty nice and characters are memorable.

Can that really be said about Gothic 3? Xardas had ten lines of dialogue, there very few references to the previous game and the four friends were just... there. Very little character development. Water mages might as well have been new characters. The only two nice throwbacks were Thorus and Lee. Thorus because he's guarding a gate again, getting mad at the Nameless for ruining his every job, and Lee because we finally get to see him get revenge on the king - something he's been talking about since the first game.

[Maladiq]

Yes, it's a typo Thanks, Maladiq.
Luckily, my last two sentences were clear enough,

Goddamn, dude, you almost gave me a heart attack Don't scare me like that!

[Misanthrope]

If you're going to play all Gothic games ,i strongly suggest you play them in the right order. The story is pretty nice and characters are memorable.

I must disagree.

From todays perspective, jumping straight into G1 (even G2) is not recommended!
There are chances you'll find them difficult to absorb as you'll have to deal with technically/graphically very outdated games.
Even if you have playing experience from other games made at that time. I find older games (e.g. Baldur's Gate) very hard to
enjoy the way I did back then, and if I play them today it's basically just nostalgia.

IMO, the least painful jump would be to go to G3 first. It's quite independent story-wise and once you've played through it, you'll be eager enough to play the rest,
thus finding the older system easier to digest. Next to play would be G2. It was the first Gothic I played and my personal favourite. It's large, compact, more guild oriented and
includes the world from G1. After you finish G2 you will develop a strong emotional bond with the game, so it should become very exciting to explore the events that
took place before (that is from G1). You'll get used to older graphics in the process. Those that played G1 first swear it's the best Gothic in the series. Then play G2+NotR to crown the whole experience.
Afterwards, go invade the forums, complain about games, verbaly abuse developers and demand a treatment like a real Gothic fan! Nobody mentions Arcania and that speaks for itself.

So I recommended: G3 --> G2 --> G1 --> G2 + NotR.

[Forward]

i strongly recommend starting with gothic1. in my opinion this game is by far the best.

[The Ore Baron]

After you finish G2 you will develop a strong emotional bond with the game, so it should become very exciting to explore the events that took place before (that is from G1). You'll get used to older graphics in the process. Those that played G1 first swear it's the best Gothic in the series. Then play G2+NotR to crown the whole experience.
Afterwards, go invade the forums, complain about games, verbaly abuse developers and demand a treatment like a real Gothic fan! Nobody mentions Arcania and that speaks for itself.

I was going to disagree, but I must say this is at least a SOMEWHAT good idea. Ignoring the fact that G1 is certainly not designed as a prequel to G2 and should not be played as such, I do agree that gameplay-wise, starting with G1 can be a little frustrating for some players. If that someone is capable of enjoying G2 without fully understanding the plot, don't let me stop them. And I like your compromise suggestion of playing Gothic 2, then Gothic 1, and then Gothic 2 with NotR. That way, the player still gets the entire story, together with the new experience of NotR.

I would still recommend starting with Gothic 1, however. Plot and setting are important parts of the first two games, and nothing - NOTHING - beats the feeling of revisiting the Valley of Mines for the first time, AFTER you've already explored it in the original game. That experience alone is reason enough to not begin with G2.

[catalinux]

Hello, fluent, and welcome to our friendly (and polarised) community!

I totally agree with your ideas. Most of them are present in Gothic 1 and 2, so yes, you should totally play them! But be aware: Gothic 1 and 2 are unique and different from any other RPG games. Risen 1 has some good points, but it fades when you compare it with Gothic 1 and 2.

Before playing Gothic 1 (and yes, you should play Gothic 1 before Gothic 2), read the manual section about keyboard controls. Many contemporary players find it difficult to play the game, until they learn it and realise that the Gothic 1 controls are the most natural ever used in game industry - you move with the arrow keys or wads, you pick items with ctrl + up key, you interact with ctrl + up key, you enter combat mode with space or pressing 1 for swords, 2 for bows/crossbows, 4 to 9 for magic spells or runes... and so on.

In Gothic 1 you will find many unique items, in chests or just by exploring the vast open world. Oh, one more suggestion - when you enter the Old Camp, one guy will tell you you can take for yourself the hut with the little canopy. Sleep in there until midnight, than just step outside, look to the sky, and listen, just listen... And if you are extremely lucky, maybe it will rain... Than, you will know why some of us consider Gothic 1 the best game ever created.

[Morgannin09]

My only real issue with the Gothic controls is that overall, they are pretty unresponsive. I think it's a flaw of the engine, as Gothic II barely improved in terms of that. Sometimes pressing buttons would fail to do anything, and sometimes an animation would start and inexplicably fail to happen. Also, the window of time to perform a combo attack was so small that you often were left wide open because you tried to make another attack an instant too early or too late.
Gothic II fared a bit better in terms of responsiveness, but the control scheme failed because you couldn't block against monsters anymore, and had to rely on the backstep dodge to avoid damage. If you tried to backstep while locked onto an enemy, you would just block instead, so it became awkward having to release LMB, backstep, then hold LMB again to start attacking. It became too tedious and prone to errors.

[UR1Z13L]

If you dont like the default options i can share you mine, which i made up the first time i played the game and played them that way ever since. Interestingly enough, gothic 2 had the same trend.
W - Up
S - Down
A - Left
D - Right (obviously )
ctrl - draw sword
space - jump
E - interact(this makes the actions much easier to perform)
Thats pretty much it, makes it much more streamlined Hope it helps

[catalinux]

My only real issue with the Gothic controls is that overall, they are pretty unresponsive. I think it's a flaw of the engine, as Gothic II barely improved in terms of that. Sometimes pressing buttons would fail to do anything, and sometimes an animation would start and inexplicably fail to happen. Also, the window of time to perform a combo attack was so small that you often were left wide open because you tried to make another attack an instant too early or too late.
Gothic II fared a bit better in terms of responsiveness, but the control scheme failed because you couldn't block against monsters anymore, and had to rely on the backstep dodge to avoid damage. If you tried to backstep while locked onto an enemy, you would just block instead, so it became awkward having to release LMB, backstep, then hold LMB again to start attacking. It became too tedious and prone to errors.

Not once I noticed that pressing asigned buttons would fail to do anything.
I don't think you can find combo attacks in G1. Improving your fighting skills change the animation when fighting, shortens the time of responsiveness (and maybe adds some value to damage?), no special blows I know about.
You are right about blocking, you can't block and move backwards at the same time. Well... the best defence is attacking, right?

@UR1Z13L - nice custom controls. Somehow make more sense than the defaults.

One guy shared his experience of playing Gothic 1 for the first time, and he is absolut delicious. You can read it here. Just a short fragment:

"I walk over to the pickaxe, and click on it. Nothing happens. I click again, still nothing. I then shift my character around so he's closer to the pickaxe, and try again: still nothing. Then, I start trying every random combination of buttons I can think of. Being a PC gamer, I start using all of the defaults that I can think of, but still, nothing. I assume that you simply can't pick up the damn pickaxe after about five minutes, and move on down the path:"